Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Antichrist · On the Roman Pontiff, Book III
Chapter 7: The Fourth Demonstration: The Last Persecution Not Yet Come
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. II, De Antichristo, On Antichrist (On the Roman Pontiff, Book III). The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
The fourth demonstration is taken from this, that it is certain that the persecution of Antichrist will be most grievous and most notorious, so that all the ceremonies and sacrifices of the public religion cease. That that last persecution will be most grievous is plain from that of Matthew 24: For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world, neither shall be. And from Apocalypse 20, where we read that Satan is then to be loosed, who until that time had been bound.
Disputing of which place, Augustine, Book 20 of the City of God, chapters 8 and 9, says that in the time of Antichrist the Devil is to be loosed, and accordingly that that persecution will be so much more grievous than all the preceding, as the Devil, loosed, can rage more cruelly than bound. And so he says that then the Devil will vex the Church with all his own forces and those of his followers. And Hippolytus the martyr, in his Oration on the consummation of the World, and Cyril, catechesis 15, say that the Martyrs whom Antichrist will kill will be more illustrious than all the past, because the past fought against men, ministers of the Devil, but the future will fight against the Devil himself, personally raging. But certainly we have experienced nothing such from the year 600, or even the thousandth.
The heretics say indeed that they suffer a great persecution from Antichrist, because sometimes some of their number are burned; but what comparison is there of such a persecution with the persecution of Nero, Domitian, Decius, Diocletian, and others? Since for one heretic who is burned, a thousand Christians were of old killed; and that was carried out in the whole Roman World, not in one province only; and whereas now the utmost penalty is that a man be burned, then incredible and most diverse kinds of torments were exercised — of which see Cornelius Tacitus on Nero, and of our writers Eusebius in the Ecclesiastical History.
Damasus writes, in the life of Marcellinus, that above 17 thousand Christians were killed within one month by Diocletian; and Eusebius, who then lived, writes, Book 8, chapter 6 of the history, that all the prisons were so full of martyrs that no place was left for criminals; and in that whole book he relates so many crowned with martyrdom within two years that it is impossible to enter upon their number. Add that our heretics have killed many more Catholics, in these ten or fifteen years, in France and Flanders, than the Inquisitors have burned heretics, perhaps in a hundred years. And so they cannot call this a persecution, but rather a civil war; for, as Augustine teaches, letter 80 to Hesychius, when there shall be the true persecution of Antichrist, the tribulation will be for the sons of the Church alone, not for their persecutors — as in the time of Diocletian and the earlier Princes, the Christians only were slain, but did not also slay.
But if it is to be called a persecution, the Catholics rather suffer it than the Lutherans and Calvinists. For it is the Catholics who, cast out of many provinces, lost their Churches, their patrimonies, and even their very country, the new Ministers of that Gospel invading forsooth the goods of others; and, as we said, and as can be known from the Commentaries of Laurentius Surius and other Historians of this time, the fury of the Calvinists consumed many more Catholics within a few years than heretics have paid the penalty of denied Faith by the judgment of Catholic Princes.
That that persecution will be most notorious and most manifest, Augustine proves, Book 20 of the City of God, chapter 11, from those words of Apocalypse 20: And they encompassed the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. For by these words is signified that absolutely all the impious will be together in the army of Antichrist, and will in open war assail the whole Church of the Saints. For now there are many feigned in the Church, who, covering their malice, are in heart outside the Church, in body within; “but then all will break forth,” says Augustine, “into open persecution out of the hiding-places of their hatreds.” This truly is so far from being fulfilled at this time, that scarcely ever was there a greater number of false brethren and feigned Christians; and this persecution is so far from being known or manifest, that neither those who say they suffer it, nor we who are said to inflict it, can say when it began.
Certainly the persecution of Nero, Domitian, and other Roman Princes was diligently noted by Eusebius, Orosius, Sulpicius; nor is there any doubt when they began and when they ceased — as also of the coming of Christ, because it was true and manifest, we know very well when it was, and to whom first manifested; nor are there among us any opinions about that matter. But the heretics, who say that Antichrist has come, and has now for so many years exercised persecution, yet cannot bring forward one Author who noted when Antichrist came, or to whom he first appeared, or when he began the persecution; and they themselves so disagree among themselves that one says he came in the year 200, another in the year 606, another in the year 773, another in the year 1000, another in the year 1200 — so that they seem not so much to speak waking as to dream in their sleep.
Finally, that in the time of Antichrist, because of the atrocity of the persecution, the public and daily office and sacrifice of the Church must cease, Daniel openly teaches, chapter 12: From the time when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away, a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Where, by the consent of all, he speaks of the time of Antichrist; and, as Irenaeus, Book 5, Jerome and Theodoret on this place, Hippolytus the martyr in his Oration on the consummation of the World, and Primasius on chapter 11 of the Apocalypse expound, the sense is: that Antichrist will forbid all divine worship which is now exercised in the Churches of Christians, and especially the most sacred sacrifice of the Eucharist. But that this sign is not yet fulfilled, experience testifies.
From which three things can be gathered. First, that Antichrist has not yet come, since the continual sacrifice still flourishes. Secondly, that the Roman Pontiff is not Antichrist, but most contrary to him, since the sacrifice which the other is to take away, this one most greatly adorns and defends. Thirdly, that the heretics of this time, above all others, are the precursors of Antichrist, since they desire nothing more ardently than utterly to abolish the sacrifice of the Eucharist.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT VII. Explicatui • quarta Demonstratio . Quarta demonstratio sumitur ex eo, quod certum est, Antichristi persecutionem fore gravissimam et notissimam ; ita ut cessent omnes publicae religionis ceremoniae et sa¬ crificia. Quod illa ultima persecutio sit futu¬ ra gravissima, patet ex illo Matth . XXIV : Erit tunc tribulatio magna , qualis non fuit ab initio mundi , neque erit (1). Et ex Apoc. XX, ubi legimus : Tunc Satanam solvendum (2), qui usque ad illud tempus fuerat ligatus. De quo loco disputans Augustinus lib. XX de Civit. Dei cap. 8. et 9. dicit, Antichristi tempore Diabolum solvendum, et proinde tanto graviorem fore illam persecutionem omnibus praecedentibus, quanto crudelius potest Diabolus saevire solutus, quam ligatus. Itaque ait, tunc Diabolum omnibus suis et suorum viribus Ecclesiam vexaturum. Et Hippolytus martyr in Orat, de Mundi con- sum. ac Cyrillus Catech. 15. dicunt, Marty¬ res, quos Antichristus occidet, futuros illus¬ triores omnibus praeteritis , quia praeteriti, contra homines ministros Diaboli, at futuri, contra ipsum Diabolum personaliter grassan- tem pugnabunt. At certe nihil tale experti sumus ab anno 600, vel etiam millesimo. Dicunt quidem haeretici , se magnam per¬ secutionem ab Antichristo pati , quia inter¬ dum comburuntur aliqui de ipsorum nume¬ ro : at quae comparatio est talis persecutio¬ nis cum persecutione Neronis, Domitiani, Decii, Diocletiani, et aliorum? Siquidem pro uno haeretico qui comburitur, mille Chris¬ tiani olim interficiebantur; idque in toto Orbe Romano exercebatur, non in una solum provincia : et cum modo summa poena sit, comburi hominem; tunc incredibilia , et di¬ versissima tormentorum genera exerceban¬ tur. De quibus vide Cornelium Tacitum in Nerone, et ex nostris Eusebium in Hist. Ec- cles. Scribit Damasus in vita Marcellini , supra 17 millia Christianorum intra unum mensem a Diocletiano interfecta : et Eusebius, qui tunc vivebat, scribit lib. VIII, cap. 6. hist. adeo fuisse omnes carceres plenos martyri¬ bus, ut nullus relinqueretur locus facinoro- ris : in toto vero eo libro, tot martyrio coro¬ natos refert infra biennium, ut impossibile sit, numerum eorum inire. Adde, quod multo plures Catholicorum haeretici nostri occide¬ runt, his decem vel quindecim annis, in Gal¬ lia etFlandria, quam Inquisitores combus- ' serint haereticorum , forte in centum annis. Itaque non possunt appellare hanc persecu¬ tionem, sed potius bellum civile : nam, ut Augustinus docet ep. 80. ad Hesych, quando erit vera persecutio Antichristi, solius Ec¬ clesiae filiis erit tribulatio : non autem eo¬ rum persecutoribus, sicut tempore Diocle¬ tiani, et superiorum Principum, Christiani solum caedebantur, non autem etiam caede¬ bant. Si vero persecutio dicenda est; Catholici potius eam patiuntur quam Lutherani et Cal- vinistae. Catholici enim sunt, qui ex multis provinciis ejecti, Ecclesias, patrimonia, et ipsam etiam patriam amiserunt , invadenti¬ bus nimirum res alienas novis istius Evange- lii Ministris, et ut diximus, et ex Com. Lau¬ rentii Surii, aliisque hujus temporis Histori¬ cis cognosci potest, multo plures Catholico¬ rum furor Calvinistarum intra paucos annos absumpsit, quam haeretici judicio Principum Catholicorum abnegatae Fidei poenas dede¬ rint. (1) Matth. XXIV, 21. — (2) Apoc. XX, 7. UBER III. Quod autem illa persecutio sit futura no¬ tissima et manifestissima, probat Augusti¬ nus lib, XX de Civit, Dei o. 11. ex illis ver¬ bis Apocalypsis XX : Et cinxerunt castra Sancturum, et dilectam civitatem (1) His enim verbis significatur, omnes prorsus impios si¬ mul futuros in exercitu Antichristi, et aperto marte oppugnaturos omnem Sanctorum Ec¬ clesiam. Nunc enim sunt multi ficti in Ecole- sia, qui tegentes malitiam suam , corde sunt extra Ecclesiam, corpore intus : « At tunc erumpent omnes, inquit Adgustinus, inaper¬ tam persecutionem ex latebris odiorum. » IIqc sane adeo non est impletum hoc tempo¬ re, ut nunquam fere fuerit major numerus falsorum fratrum, et fictorum Christianorum, et adeo non est nota nec manifesta haec per¬ secutio, ut nec illi qui dicunt se eam pati, nec nos qui dicimur eam inferre, possimus dicere, quando coeperit. Certe persecutio Neronis, Domitiani, at¬ que aliorum Principum Romanorum, ab Eu- sebio, Orosio , Sulpitio, diligenter annotatae fuerunt : neque est dubium quando coepe¬ rint, et quando desierint ; sicut etiam de Christi adventu, quia verus et manifestus fuit, optime scimus quando fuerit, et quibus primum manifestatus : nec ullae sunt inter nos de ea re opiniones. At haeretici , qui di¬ cunt Antichristum venisse, et jam per tot annos persecutionem exercuisse ; tamen non possunt proferre unum Auctorem, qui anno¬ taverit quando Antichristus venerit, vel qui¬ bus apparuerit primum, vel quando inchoa¬ verit persecutionem : et ipsi inter se ita dis¬ sident, ut unus dicat, eum venisse anno 200, alius anno 606, alius anno 773, alius anno 1000, alius anno 1200, ut non tam vigilan¬ tes loqui quam per quietem somniare vi¬ deantur. Denique , quod Antichristi tempore prop¬ ter atrocitatem persecutionis cessare debeat publicum et quotidianum Ecclesiae officium, et sacrificium, aperte docet Daniel c. XII ; A tempore cum ablatum fuerit juge sacrificium dies 1290 (2). Ubi omnium consensu loquitur de tempore Antichristi , et ut exponunt Ire- naeus lib. Y. Hieronymus et Theodoretus in hunc locum, Hippolytus martyr in Orat, de consum. Mundi, et Primasius in c. XI Apoo. sensus est ; Antichristum interdicturum om¬ nem divinum cultum, qui in Ecclesiis Chris¬ tianorum nunc exercetur, ac praesertim sa¬ crosanctum Eucharistiae sacrificium. Hoc au¬ tem signum nondum impletum , experientia testatur. Ex quo tria colligi possunt. Primo, Anti¬ christum nondum venisse , cum adhuc vi¬ geat sacrificium juge. Secundo , Romanum Pontificem non esse Antichristum ; sed ei maxime contrarium, cum sacrificium , quod ille ablaturus est, hio maxime ornet et tuea* tur. Tertio, hujus temporis haereticos , prae omnibus aliis, Antichristi esse praecursores, cum nihil ardentius optent, quam sacrificium Eucharistiae penitus abolere.